KariEXE A New Beginning
by bluedarkyugi
Summary: With Sarah dead, Sam searches for her place in the new world. When she is called upon to stop a rogue group of solo navis, she finds truths she'd rather leave behind.
1. Prologue

– A New Beginning

Prologue

Samantha Hikari-Blaze sat on the stage as her father stood up to give his speech, she hated this part, hated her mother for leaving her, hated those hypocrites who had denounced her mother whilst she lived only to change their minds after her sacrifice, but most of all, she hated those who continued to hate her mother after she'd given up everything so they could continue to live their pathetic lives in comfort.

Her father's speech began, she half listened, remembering how Scyler had sliced through the net and had absorbed 2 of the 6 network cores before anyone noticed, her mother had moved fast though, with the help of Team ProtoMan and Team Colonel she had managed to secure three of the remaining four cores.

But Scyler had proven too much for the two teams to handle, with the power of three network cores behind her she forced Sam's mother to absorb the network cores in their possession to keep them safe, even when Mr. Famous had forced her mother to give up the HubBatch to enable MegaMan to reach his full potential, Scyler had simply sliced through him to get what she wanted.

When her mother and Scyler confronted each other with three cores each in their possession, the true core of the network was unveiled, her mother forced every other Navi off the net to protect them and battled hard against Scyler, until there was only one option left, to destroy the network core.

She used her most powerful ability to do this, sacrificing herself to stop Scyler's mad rampage, but her Grandfather, Samantha's Great-Grandfather had anticipated this, and had written her mother's code so that the attack would rebuild the net. Her mother had chosen two others, Scyler among them, to assist her in rebuilding the net, each taking on a different aspect of the net to restore it.

Before she left for the final time, her mother created a pendant for her on the network, she had hinted that it contained great power, but it had never done anything for her. She clasped the real world representation her father had made in her hand to comfort her, she looked up as her father finished her speech. She shivered as a familiar sensation crawled over her skin and bolted from her seat to her father's side when she saw the Dimensional Area rise around them.


	2. Battles Beginning

Chapter 1 – Battles Beginning

Sam ran to Chaud's side and arrived at the same time as Lan, Mayl, Hub and Blu. Sam pulled off the glove on her right arm and the others readied their PETs.

"Shall we?" asked Lan as the first viruses began to appear in the area.

"Yes," replied Chaud, "Cross Fusion Chips, Slot In!" The others followed suit, each slotting the chips into their PET with Sam using the slot on her wrist.

Sam felt her armour form around her human form, the feeling of wholeness came over her as it normally did in cross fusion, her netnavi and human forms becoming one. She opened her eyes and realised something was wrong.

The other five were staring at their PETs, the Cross Fusion chips lay on the floor. Sam checked that her fusion was still active, but she knew it was, everyone looked over to Lan for an explanation.

"That's impossible," he said checking the error code.

"What does it mean Dr. Hikari?" asked Blu.

"It says we're not in a dimensional area," replied Lan through gritted teeth.

"I hope you're right Dad," said Hub stepping back, "Because those Mettaurs look like they're ready to attack."

The Mettaurs rose their pickaxes and sent a series of shockwaves at the group, Sam dived between the group and gripped her PET, the Battle Chip Gate attached and sent herself a Barrier Chip.

"You idiot," yelled Lore from the PET, "There's five shockwaves, the chip will only block one!"

"MOVE!" yelled Sam as the shockwaves struck, she winced but dashed forwards and punched the first Mettaur, she repeated the action with a second and the third was blasted by a cannon Yai had sent to her. Then the sheer amount of Mettaurs overwhelmed her and she found herself buried beneath them.

"Not this time," she muttered, X Upgrade Initialise, X-Melee!"

Sam felt her armour shift under the effects of the upgrade, her helmet reshaped itself around a silver gem set in its forehead, her gloves became heavier as they grew in size and her armour reformed itself into the X-Style.

She stood up and roaring and flinging the Mettaurs from her, most of them being deleted as they flew through the air, she glanced over at the others and indicated that they needed to move before turning back to the Mettaurs. She knew they'd leave now, but the Mettaurs hadn't. She felt this was a little unfair, it was like fighting a hydra, for every one she deleted, two more showed up.

"Shockwave!" she yelled slamming her hands together creating a shockwave which sliced through the middle of the Mettaur army, she dashed forwards and through the gap realising that she needed to reach the centre of the Dimensional Area to find who was causing it and why.

She dashed through the Mettaurs, occasionally stopping to free groups of trapped civilians. She vaguely realised that the area was larger than any she'd encountered before but didn't stop to think about it. When she reached the centre she found four navis watching the destruction. They turned to stare at her as she stopped in front of them.

"A cross fused navi," said a blue female navi, "I thought that was impossible in the Neo Area."

"It should be," replied a green navi, "Perhaps she managed to cross over with the viruses."

"Either way," commented a red navi aiming it's dual busters at Sam, "She won't receive any quarter from me for getting here in one piece."

"The test was a failure," replied a purple navi, "Cross Fusion is possible here."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," replied a fifth voice, "Don't you recognise her, special rules may apply here. Besides, why would she come alone if others could cross fuse."

"Who are you?" asked Sam shifting into a battle stance, "Answer me!"

"We are the beginning of a new age," replied the fifth voice, "An age where netnavis will no longer live under the tyranny of humans, where we will rise up against our human opressors..."

"Ok," interrupted Sam, "Heard it all before, I just wanted to know what you idiots were calling yourselves."

The fifth navi, obviously annoyed at this stepped forwards to reveal a familiar blue armour. "We are Neo Arcadia," replied Megaman X-Style.


	3. A New Foe, An Old Face

– A New Beginning

Chapter 2 – A New Foe, An Old Face

Sam looked into the eyes of the MegaMan X-Style before her, the blood red eyes reminded her of someone but she couldn't think who, then it hit her.

"Wily," she muttered, "I thought Scyler had deleted you years ago."

"Do not compare me to that pathetic human!" yelled MegaMan X-Style, "I am far superior to any mere human."

"Then who are you to take that form?" asked Sam, "Answer me now!"

"Foolish child," replied MegaMan X-Style, "I am the original MegaMan."

"You should try a less obvious lie," replied Sam, "That's far too obvious for someone related to Lan Hikari."

"It is you who does not understand child," replied MegaMan X-Style. He turned to the other navis, "Retreat back, call the experiment a success, I'll deal with the child before I return."

"Just bring it," replied Sam, "No bad copy can beat me."

"We shall soon see." replied MegaMan X-Style, "Battle Routine Set."

"Execute," finished Sam dashing forwards her fist raised. She leapt up and slammed her fist into the ground where MegaMan X-Style had stood moments before. She looked up and clapped her hands together to create a shockwave.

MegaMan X-Style dropped down allowing the shockwave to pass over his head, he aimed the X-Buster at Sam and fired three shots in rapid succession each one striking Sam in the chest.

"Damn," muttered Sam as she was knocked back, "That actually managed to hurt."

"X-Melee's fatal flaw," smiled MegaMan X-Style, "Only one ranged attack, and you can't use ranged battlechips."

"Your mistake, not mine," replied Sam, "I don't know about you, but my X-Upgrades only last about 10 minutes at most, and times almost up." She raised her Kari-Buster aimed it at MegaMan X-Style, "And I've been saving this one for you!" She let loose the power she'd been charging since her last attack and struck the navi in the centre of his crest knocking him to the ground and temporarily disrupting his image.

"Heh," laughed MegaMan X-Style, "I'm not cross fused fool."

"Quick question," replied Sam stretching her now free fingers, "What happens when you get punched by a melee specialised navi, when they're cross fused with someone with a cybernetic arm?"

"I don't know," replied MegaMan X-Style, "Why?"

"Wanna find out?" asked Sam dashing forwards her left arm pulled back ready to punch.

MegaMan X-Style didn't hesitate, he fired rapidly at Sam's left arm, as the shots struck Sam was knocked back, her armour flickered for a moment before vanishing. Sam looked down at her left arm to see it was sparking before she screamed as the power surges flared throughout her entire body. She collapsed breathing heavily watching MegaMan X-Style walk over to her.

"If you didn't embrace your human ideals you would have a place in the new world," he said, "As it is, you're too weak to even consider killing."

She watched him vanish before feeling the Neo Area vanish as she lost consciousness.

----------------------------

Sam sat up gasping for air, she was in a bed in SciLab, the same one that her Uncle and Grandfather used whenever they worked on her arm. She glanced down at it, it looked to be in one piece but she lifted it and went through the full range on motions that they asked her to go though after they normally worked on it.

Lan came in when she was halfway through the checks and nodded approvingly as she finished, he walked over to her and performed a quick checkup to ensure that she was ok. Sam remained silent as he did it, biology wasn't Lan's area she knew, and she'd been through the process a thousand times since she was born and wanted time to think.

"As far as I know you're fine," said Lan as he finished, "Did you get a full range on your arm? You haven't been in for a while so I think you may be due to have it extended again, are you having difficulties with it at all?"

"It needs better armour," she replied, "I thought I was immune to being forced out of it like that?"

"You're lucky," replied Lan, "I was worried that your navi data had been deleted for a while there, you were out for three days."

"I need to tell you what happened then," said Sam shocked, "I found this group calling itself..."

"Neo Arcadia," interrupted Lan, "Ran by a MegaMan copy claiming to be the original. We ran you through pulse transmission yesterday when you hadn't woken up to check was still there, we checked out your memories whilst you were logged in as well."

"Is there anything else yet?" asked Sam.

"Officially, I can't tell you," replied Lan, "Hold out both your arms in front of you please."

"But Uncle Lan," pleaded Sam holding out both her arms like Lan had asked.

"Don't Uncle Lan me," replied Lan smiling, "But I heard they have Zero scouring the Undernet looking for clues and all the freelance officials have been called in to investigate."

"So why are you here?" asked Sam, "I thought you'd be on the front line."

"Two reasons," replied Lan, "First of all a few of the freelancers are a little trigger happy, mix that with orders to detain MegaMan. The poor guy was shot at four times attempting to purchase some stuff in NetCity for your Aunt Mayl."

"And the second?" asked Sam.

"You," replied Lan, "Your dad wanted me here constantly until you woke up."

"Well," said Sam going to get off the bed, "If you don't mind, I'm going to go hunting myself."

"You," said Lan gripping her right shoulder and forcing her back onto the bed, "Are going to rest until I have a medic look you over, then you are going to go home and forget about it unless the Officials decide otherwise."

Sam's left arm shot out and Lan felt the metallic fingers wrap around his wrist. "Like it or not Uncle Lan," she said, "I'm still the only person capable of fighting these things in their Neo Areas."

"Wrong again Samantha," replied Lan in a warning tone causing her to release her grip, "You're the only person capable of Cross Fusion in a Neo area."

"Which is the definition of being able to fight them in a Neo Area last time I checked," replied Sam.

"We think we've found a way to fight them," replied Lan, "We've developed an attachment for the PET to allow the user to project the navi into the real world, although they only have physical form in a Dimensional Area."

"But you haven't tested it in a Neo Area," replied Sam.

"But we haven't tested it in a Neo Area," replied Lan, "It would help if they made a second attack."

"I want in," replied Sam, "If it fails I'm your last hope."

"You're too young," replied Lan.

"I'm twelve," said Sam, "You defeated Wily for the first time when you were eleven, I've been capable of Cross Fusion for 6 years, I can handle this Uncle Lan."

"It's not my call," replied Lan shaking his head.

"Hub and Blu are involved," replied Sam, "Why not me?"

"Hub and Blu are 19 years old," replied Lan, "They're consenting adults and are aware of the risks."

"And I'm not?" asked Sam, "I've just told you, I had to learn to defend myself at the age of six, I'm in the middle of my exams to become a freelancer myself, I'm one of 25 people in the world capable of Cross Fusion, I'm the only person in the world who can Cross Fuse in a Neo Area..." She trailed off for a moment lost in thought.

"Why is that anyway?" she asked.

"Your Cross Fusion Chip is unique," replied Lan, "It's redesigned as with a standard Cross Fusion Chip the PET is stored in the chest area of the navi armour, in your case this is part of your brain and your arm. It's likely whoever designed it has only ever seen a standard Cross Fusion Chips code and as such, your chip was ignored by the field when it blocked ours."

"That explains so much," replied Sam, "Especially when you realise you could just have said that my chip was different enough to avoid being blocked."

"That's what I did say though," replied Lan.

"And with the way you and Gramps talk, you're lucky I have an attention span twice as long as the average 12 year old," replied Sam, "Let's get this medical exam over with Uncle Lan, then I'll go home, at least until the next Neo Area appears." She looked over at Lan's shocked face. "Kidding," she said raising her hands in front of her, "I think anyway."

"If you carry on I'll tell your dad to tie you down," replied Lan as he contacted a medic to look her over.


	4. System Test

– A New Beginning

Chapter 3 – System Test

Sam walked out of the exam room and into chaos, she didn't need to know what the problem was to cause this much panic.

"Where is it?" she asked a technician as he ran past.

"Electown," replied the technician, "And it's worse, you can't spot the field until you're in it."

"Wait," said Sam gripping the technician's arm tightly, "You shouldn't be able to penetrate Dimensional Areas from the outside."

"This one you can," replied the Technician, "They're obviously trying to cause as much panic as possible." He looked at Sam anxiously, "Can I go now? I have to get this report to the Officials quickly."

"Tell me where the new PET attachments are," replied Sam, "The ones for fighting in a Neo Area, then you can go."

---------------------------

Lan pulled up within the Neo Area, the members of Team ProtoMan, Team Colonel and the last members of Team MegaMan were waiting. He thought back to when they had first been formed, back then Team MegaMan's job was mainly support, only himself and Sarah capable of fighting in Dimensional Area's. Should this test prove successful, then it would change Team MegaMan's role from support to combat.

Lan handed boxes containing the attachments to Chaud and Princess Pride, Princess Pride had led Team Colonel since Colonel's deletion and Baryl's disappearance, Blu and Prota were filling in for Colonel's fighting skills however.

His own team consisted of Mayl, Dex, Yai, Hub and Tory, Hub was the newest addition to the team replacing Sarah, he gave a quick rundown of how the attachment works although there wasn't much to it before he looked at Chaud and Princess Pride. The others knew their cue and all 18 used the attachments to send their navis into the Neo Area.

"I hope this works," said Princess Pride.

"I definitely do," replied Hub, "Viruses incoming!"

"Circle up!" yelled Chaud, "Navis on the outside!"

The group formed into two circles, operators on the inside with navis on the outside, the navis prepared to battle the viruses as a storm started overhead.

"A storm?" asked Chaud, "What happened to the weather satellites?"

"It's not a natural storm," replied Lan, "It's caused by a virus or navi's power."

"Why?" asked Gryo, "Why would they create a storm?"

"Cover," replied Lan, "Can you see properly in this rain?"

There was a thunderclap and all 18 humans became aware of a non human presence behind them in the circle.

"Lan," yelled MegaMan, "Look out!"

Lan span around to see the purple navi from Sam's memories in the centre of the circle, he was crouched in a battle stance with his hand on a large throwing star on it's back. He barely had time to register it before a yellow blur passed below him sliding along the wet floor on it's back. Sam stopped sliding below the navi and fired her Kari-Buster straight up. The navi vanished before the shot hit.

"What are you doing here?" yelled Chaud, "You're supposed to be at SciLab!"

"Saving your butts apparently," replied Sam, "You'd all be dead if it wasn't for me."

"You still could be," replied the purple navi from the top of a lamppost.

"Get the viruses," replied Sam, "I can handle him."

"Forget it," yelled Chaud, "ProtoMan now!"

ProtoMan leapt up to strike at the purple navi, the navi vanished and Chaud felt himself gripped from behind.

"My name," whispered the navi into his ear, "Is Phantom, and consider this a warning."

Phantom vanished along with the Neo Area leaving the 19 operators standing there.


	5. Decisions

– A New Beginning

Chapter 4 – Decisions

Lan, Chaud and Princess Pride stood in front of Mr. Famous, officially he had retired shortly before Sarah's death, passing on the mantel to Dex. But even Dex had recognised that they'd need Mr. Famous heading up this mission and had called him out of retirement.

"If Sam had not interfered and the battle continued," said Mr. Famous, "Would you have succeeded?"

Lan looked over at Chaud and saw Princess Pride doing the same thing, Chaud kept his gaze fixed on Famous and replied.

"No," he said, he shook his head and corrected himself "Possibly, but we'd have taken heavy losses including both navis and operators."

"Did the projection units operate as planned?" asked Mr. Famous directing the question at Lan.

"Yes," replied Lan, "Our mistake was underestimating the vulnerability of the operators."

"If I may," said Princess Pride, "I do not believe that Phantom would have allowed us to come to harm, he had multiple chances to harm us, kill us even, and he did not take any of them.

"Then you believe it was a warning?" asked Mr. Famous, "As he claimed it was?"

"Perhaps so," replied Princess Pride, "He does appear to have a sense of honour, perhaps he wished to avoid unnecessary deaths."

"Or didn't want to face a foe who fell so easily," commented Chaud.

"Either or both could be correct," replied Mr. Famous, "However, based on our tests and reports concerning these Neo Areas in other areas of the globe, there are two facts to be discerned.

"First is the fact that they are a global organisation, but focusing their attention here in Electopia. Specifically on you Lan, the MegaMan copy obviously believes you have wronged him and is out for revenge.

"The second is that from all 18 officials, including freelancers, capable of Cross Fusion, none can Cross Fuse in a Neo Area. I'm sorry Chaud, given that the safest way to combat Neo Arcadia would be through Cross Fusion, we only have one choice."

"No," said Chaud coldly, "I won't allow it."

"Chaud," said Mr. Famous, "How old were you when you first Cross Fused?"

"What's that got to do..." started Chaud.

"Answer the question Chaud," interrupted Mr. Famous in a warning tone.

"12," replied Chaud reluctantly.

"And how old was Sam when she first Cross Fused?"

"She was six," replied Chaud, "But she has no experience at doing this alone, no knowledge of how these people, these navis, think."

"She saved her mother from Scyler at the same age," replied Lan.

"She looked at her and cried when Scyler threatened to kill Sarah," replied Chaud.

"Chaud," said Mr. Famous, "If we don't send Sam, we could all die, if we send Sam and she loses, we could all die shortly after, if we send her and she succeeds, we all live. If you still refuse, I want you to walk out that door, and announce to the 16 people on the other side, that we're all going to die, because you refuse to allow Sam to fight. After she saved all their lives."

Lan and Princess Pride looked over at Chaud, normally Lan could read his brother in law like an open book, but now his face remained impassive, back to the uptight Official Lan had met whilst taking down World 3 for the first time.

Chaud's emotional scars ran deep, Lan knew this. He had become like this for nearly a month after Sarah's sacrifice, until Mayl threatened to take Sam from him. He knew what it meant, Mr. Famous had put Chaud in an emotionally difficult position, he wasn't naturally expressive, and when his emotions threatened to overwhelm him, like he had been about to let his anger just, he retreated into his shell. Now he was going over the situation with cold logic. Lan panicked a little, Chaud could be considering allowing Sam to walk straight into danger.

"Mr. Famous," said Lan receiving a glare from the scientist, "I think it would be a good idea..."

Chaud cut him off placing his hand across Lan's chest as though to stop him stepping forwards. "I'll allow it," he said, "Under one condition."

"Name it," said Mr. Famous.

"She gets her license first," replied Chaud.

"There's no time," replied Lan before Mr. Famous could respond, "She's still got two months of training left before she can even be considered for an Official License."

Mr. Famous shook his head. "There are other ways to get an Official License," he said, "The three of you leave, and tell Dex, Sam, Charlie, Raika and Jasmine to come in here."

Lan sat next to Chaud outside as they waited for Mr. Famous to finish speaking with Sam and the others.

"What does he mean?" asked Lan looking at Chaud.

"If she can defeat a high enough level Official," replied Chaud, "Whilst observed by three others with Official Licenses, she can be awarded her Official License on the spot."

"So all she has to do is defeat GutsMan?" asked Lan as Chaud nodded. "Is this what you were aiming for?"

"No," replied Chaud shaking his head, "I was banking on Famous not knowing about it."

"You're an idiot when it comes to Sam," said Lan shaking his head.

"And you're not when it comes to Hub and Una," said Mayl from the other side of Lan.

"Guilty as charged," replied an embarrassed Lan.

Sam stepped out of the room and glanced around. Everyone else glanced between Chaud and Sam waiting for one of them to speak.

"How did it go?" asked Chaud finally.

"How do you think?" asked Sam, her face broke out into a smile, "I passed!"

Chaud smiled and nodded as various others got up to congratulate her.

"If we're all done," said Mr. Famous coming out of the office followed by Dex, Raika, Charlie and Jasmine, "We have work to do."


	6. Mission Start

– A New Beginning

Chapter 5 – Mission Start

Sam sat down next to Chaud as Mr. Famous began his briefing.

"As you know the situation is bad," began Mr. Famous, "The new Neo Areas popping up all over the world have rendered standard Cross-Fusion impossible, and the other method developed to combat this threat was shown to have a massive security hole."

"Nearly got us all killed you mean," muttered Dex who received a glare from Lan.

"As such," continued Mr. Famous, "As an offensive measure they are risky, but we only have a single person capable of Cross Fusion in a Neo Area. Luckily our information tells us that they are beginning to focus on Electopia in order to eliminate Lan Hikari."

"Lucky!" yelled Mayl, "How is that lucky?"

"If I may continue," replied Mr. Famous, "This means that we can focus our attention on a smaller area instead of having our single NetOp capable of fusion jet off all over the world and putting a rather large dent in our budget.

"Due to the fact that we only have a single operator who can Cross Fuse in the Neo Area, you will all, with the exception of Lan Hikari and MegaMan, be required to defend civilians in the Neo Areas until Sam can respond."

"If I may," interrupted Princess Pride, "May those of us who have come from other countries please go home in order to defend our countries in the event they attack there."

"Of course," replied Mr. Famous nodding, "In fact you'd better leave now if you wish to get home quickly."

The various NetOps from countries other than Electopia all got up and said their goodbyes, Hub almost getting up to leave with Blu before Mayl pulled him and Blu back into their seats.

"I keeping you pair here to help Sam if necessary," Mayl hissed, Yai looked back and shook her head before leaving.

After everyone who was leaving had left Mr. Famous looked around at the room at the few who were left.

"I believe that pretty much covers everything I was going to say anyway," he continued, "Lan, I believe you wanted to take Sam to SciLab, be sure to tell her the specifics of the situation. Everyone else, you know what you're doing."

----------------------------------

Sam sat in Lan's car as he drove the pair of them to SciLab, the others were scattered throughout the country to speed up the response time when a Neo Area appeared.

"So what do you want me for?" asked Sam as the pair of them moved through the traffic to SciLab. Everyone was heading to SciLab to find out what was being done about the Neo Area. Lan brushed them aside as he moved into the official lanes to avoid the traffic.

"I have an upgrade for the Kari program to allow you to shield your left arm better," replied Lan, "Also I have a request."

"What is it Uncle Lan?" asked Sam, now the reality of the situation had set in she was getting more nervous and this hadn't helped.

"I need you to bring me whatever's generating the Neo Area," replied Lan, "If I can analyse the program I can reverse engineer the Cross Fusion Chips to get around their blocks."

"Should be fun," groaned Sam.

"I'm working on something else," replied Lan, "I don't how long it will take to get ready, but it should help."

"Thanks Uncle Lan," replied Sam as they pulled up to SciLab.

-------------------------------------

Mr. Famous sat at the control desk in the office as a warning beeped up on the wall monitor before him, a Neo Area had appeared in Electown.

"Punk, who's closest?" he asked.

"Hub and Blu are equal distance from the disturbance," replied Punk.

"GateMan, contact them both and inform Sam of the situation," ordered Mr. Famous.

-------------------------------------

"Hub," said Una from the PET, "Contact from GateMan."

"Electown?" asked Hub.

"You read my mind," replied Una as Hub started his motorcycle and headed for the Neo Area.

He arrived quickly and parked his bike next to Blu's car and got off as she climbed out of the car, the attachments hit their PETs at the same time and Una and Prota entered the Neo Area at the same time.

"United we stand," said all four in unison.

"Then united you'll fall," said a familiar voice.

"Phantom," replied Hub spinning around, "Where are you?"

"I warned you about the dangers of your devices," replied Phantom, "My fellows may not be so forgiving."

He materialised in front of Una and threw some Kunai at her striking her leg, Una and Hub cried out in pain simultaneously.

"Interesting," commented Phantom, "I had no idea any human and navi had that level of connection."

"We'll show you how deep it goes," said Hub wincing as he tried to keep his weight on his good leg, "Grass Shadow Style, Shuriken Battlechip Download."

Una faded from view as Phantom watched, he shook his head then vanished to reappear behind Prota before grabbing her.

"Reappear before I delete her," he commented quietly.

"Don't touch her," replied Una reappearing in front of him.

"Touchy," replied Phantom throwing Prota to one side, "She does not interest me, but you are almost as interesting as Kari."

"Her name is Sam," said Hub and Una in unison.

"You feel the same pain," replied Phantom, "You speak in one voice. But now I will have to kill you."

He moved forward and vanished, he reappeared behind them and Hub and Una clutched their stomachs at the same time along with Una dropping out of her style change. Blu noticed a sizable gash across Una's armour.

"That," said Hub and Una panting as they straightened up, "Is the last hit you will land on us."

"Oh yes," said Blu recognising the signs, "He's going down."

"Hub Soul!" yelled Hub and Una together, Una glowed as though she was about to perform the soul union before she streamed over to Hub and her data reformed around him.

"What in the net?" said Phantom as Una CF stood where Hub had moments before.

"Impossible," muttered Una CF as he stood there looking over the pink armour.

"Your connection runs that deep," said Phantom with a smile, "Congratulations, you're now as interesting as Kari."

"My name is Sam!" yelled a voice from above, Phantom rolled out of the way as Sam's fist impacted the ground cracking the Earth around it.

"Nice entrance," commented Prota stepping forwards.

"Blu, Prota," nodded Sam, "Keep the viruses out of our way."

"Right mission commander," said Blu jokingly, the pair left quickly knowing that Sam just wanted Blu out of harms way.

"Don't know how you pair did it," commented Sam, "But if anyone could break their rules it would be you two."

"Thanks for the compliment," said Una CF.

"You three forgetting something," said Phantom, he grabbed the throwing disk from his back and launched it at the two standing there. The pair leapt aside easily and dodged it, they stood up and glanced at each other.

"Duck," yelled Sam as the disk flew back at Una CF.

Una CF dropped down but it was too late, the blade struck her back and Una CF fell down, splitting into Hub and Una again.

"Now you die," said Sam diving at the navi, she somehow managed to grab him and rammed him into a wall.

Suddenly Phantom screamed as data flowed between the pair. In shock to the data flow Sam dropped Phantom and the pair dropped to their knees.

"I will not allow that to happen again," gasped Phantom, "I don't know what that was but you won't have chance to use it again."

"I've never done that before," gasped Sam, "That was like, mom."


	7. Strikedown

– A New Beginning

Chapter 6 – Strikedown

Sam stood up still gasping, her left arm and the cybernetic areas of her brain felt supercharged, the rest of her body felt lagged behind as Phantom's energy flooded through her. The fact that her navi form and cybernetic implants were now supercharged and the rest of her body was lagging behind wasn't helping her focus.

Phantom had recovered, his heavy breathing slowed and controlled, Sam stepped back slowly and Phantom followed, the pair circled around each other, maintaining distance and looking silently for an opening.

After the pair had rotated a few times Sam began to run forwards, but tripped up over her feet after a few steps as she was trying to run faster than her feet could carry her. Phantom wasted no time and was moving before she hit the ground, until he heard Sam laugh.

He stopped, wondering what she was laughing for, did she truly have no fear of her own death, or was something else amusing her? His answer came with the shuriken which embedded itself in his back. He turned to see Una and Hub standing, the pair had a glazed look in their eyes, but he knew that they were aware, each supporting the other.

"How?" he gasped.

"Sam is our cousin and our friend," said Hub.

"And we'll do anything to protect our friends," finished Una.

The pair collapsed, and Blu and Prota pulled them away as Phantom turned to see Sam stand, her Kari Buster aimed at him, he knew he wouldn't survive the shot. He burst into laughter, seeing the folly of his life.

"Why?" asked Sam, "You're not like the others, you warned us against using the Projection Units when you could have left us and killed their ops, you held back against Hub, Una, Blu and Prota, only unleashing your full strength against them when Hub and Una managed to fuse. Why did you fight this way?"

"Because I don't agree with Lord X," he replied, "I agree with his philosophies, but not his methods."

"Then why fight at all?" asked Sam.

"Because I swore my life to Lord X," replied Phantom, "It would have been dishonourable to disobey."

"This is about honour?" asked Sam shocked, "Why didn't you just leave?"

"I swore my life," replied Phantom incredulously, "I couldn't leave."

"Then why let me kill you now?" asked Sam.

"I swore my life to Lord X," replied Phantom, he removed his face mask and looked Sam in the eye, "My death however, is my choice."

"I won't do it," said Sam lowering her buster, "Come with me, we can help you, remove any subroutines that force your loyalty, free you from your servitude."

Phantom shook his head and looked back at her. "You don't follow," he replied, "I'm not under his control, I chose my own path."

"Then choose a new one," replied Sam, "Come with me."

"You don't get it," growled Phantom, "I can't!" With this he dived forwards with a Kunai in his hand, aiming for Sam's heart he brought it down and Sam raised her left arm to block the blow.

A yellow shield materialised on her arm, the Kunai glanced off it and Sam reacted automatically punching Phantom in the chest and knocking him back. The purple navi lay motionless as Sam realised what she'd done. She rushed forwards and lifted his head.

"Thank you Kari," said Phantom, he shook his head suddenly, "No, Samantha."

"You didn't have to die," whispered Sam, "You could have lived on."

He shook his head slowly. "You don't know what I've done Samantha," he said, "I've wanted to die for so long, but my loyalty to Lord X forced me to continue living, until I found someone strong enough to defeat me."

Sam laughed, "That's why you warned us against using the Projection Units," she smiled, "You wanted to make sure you faced me."

He nodded and coughed, "Samantha, take my power, use it to hide in the midday sun and midnight shadows."

He faded away leaving an X-Crystal behind, Sam looked it over attempting to determine it's specialty until she realised with horror that the Neo-Area was fading. She attempted to sprint to the centre but ended up tripping over her own feet again as her navi and human legs attempted to run at the different speeds.

She shook her head in dismay as the Neo Area completed faded, knowing that there was little to no chance of finding what produced it now. She stood up and walked over to where Blu and Prota had taken Hub and Una, Prota and Una were existing as holograms as they had not been recalled into their PETs.

"Wake up Hub," cried Blu trying everything that Mayl had taught her about first aid, "Come on, please."

Sam went to reach down to her PET and realised her hand was shaking, she raised it to look at it and realised for the first time that she was hyperventilating. She put her back to the wall and slid down it.

"Sam," said Lore from the PET, "Sam, are you alright?"

Sam's breathing increased as she closed her eyes and slumped forwards her head in her hands.

"Sam," yelled Lore, "I'll open a link to Mr. Famous. Help! GateMan, get Famous to send a medical team here immediately!"


	8. Beginning Anew

KariEXE – A New Beginning

Chapter 7 – Beginning Anew

Sam woke up on a Scilab bed for the second time in less than a week, the additional charge through her cybernetic parts had been disipated but the pain throughout her body was intense, she struggled to sit up and looked around the lab. Her Uncle Lan smiled gravely at her as she caught his eye.

"Have there been any other attacks?" she asked as he walked over too her.

"Not at the moment," replied Lan, "But that's not your concern anymore."

"But I'm an official," said Sam, "I'm the only one capable of safely fighting them!"

"I'm sorry, but your Dad got a court order," said Lan, "Until we can detirmine what happened in that battle to make you collapse, and whether it's safe for you to battle them again, I'm supposed to patch you up and send you home without your Cross Fusion Chip."

"But..." started Sam.

"No buts," said Lan shaking his head, "Even Mr. Famous couldn't talk the judge out of giving the order, if I let you out of here with a Cross Fusion Chip then I could lose my job."

"Fine," replied Sam drooping her head, "How long until the tests are finished?"

"A few hours more," said Lan, "Here's your PET, I upgraded it to the latest model for you whilst you were unconcious."

"Thanks Uncle Lan," said Sam taking the yellow and pink PET from Lan, she turned it over in her hands looking it over closely.

"It's just slightly faster than your old model," said Lan as he helped her up and over to the door, "Not that you normally use your PET for anything but mail and calls, but you seem to get on with Lore well enough so..."

"So what?" asked Sam as Lan trailed off.

"Oh, nothing," said Lan snapping back to attention, "I'll take you home anyway, your dad wants you to stay in your room until the tests are done."

"That's not a problem," said Sam as they got into Lan's car, "I'll be able to keep up with the news from there at least."

Lore dived to catch the stuff Sam threw around her room.

"Sam," snapped Lore, "You need to calm down, this isn't the end of the world!"

"Granddad never stopped dad from doing this sort of stuff on a daily basis," shouted Sam, "But I collapse once or twice and he's all over me and stopping me from helping others!"

"He's worried Sam," said Lore grabbing Sam's arm, "You need to stop beating yourself up over this."

"But he used to fight people like this all the time!" shouted Sam, "He's even fought Bass in a Dimensional Area before now!"

"Which is precisely why he's so worried about you," said Lore, "Because he's seen the danger first hand and wants to save you the pain that he went through."

Sam collapsed into the corner sobbing. "I know," she cried, "But all I want to do is help people."

Lore knelt down and hugged the young girl as she sobbed, as the pair hugged Sam's PET started beeping.

"Oh, a call," said Lore as the pair reacted, "One second." Lore logged out of the houses systems and returned to the PET before answering the call.

"Sam, you need to get downtown now," said Lan as Lore answered, "One of the Neo Arcadian's you met has appeared there."

"But I don't have a cross fusion chip," said Sam, "How can I fight?"

"The new PET," said Lan, "I built it for such an occasion, just get there and I'll explain everything."

"Right," said Sam running out her bedroom grabbing her skateboard and headed downtown.


End file.
